Kimmo
A Fixture
- Joined
- May 30, 2018
- Messages
- 890
Plans are funny in that they don't seem to work out much in my case, so I've become adept at changing direction on the fly when inspiration hits. I was supposed to get back to something else but life, uh, found a way to throw a wrench in the works. While rummaging through the stash for my last project, I had an option to do up one of the MPs from MiniArt's set that comes with their Bantam jeep. A very early MiniArt release, but surprisingly good, if not slightly beefy. The only major issue is the heads, the less spoken of, the better. My head stash also provided an interesting option, and a chance image while searching for reference gave me an idea. I'll keep some of the details to myself for the moment, and show you what is almost ready for primer. Click for larger photos.
I dipped into the wine cork bag again for the wall, using proper cork instead of the reconstituted version as with previous projects. Whole grain cork, if you will, has a very natural stone like appearance and the imperfections just add to that. Simply cut the corks into boards of a suitable thickness, chop up into blocks and glue to a stiff backing with super glue. Once dry, trim and sand as needed and then give them a good scrub with a stiff wire rush to give them more texture, wear and cut marks. The flagstone is from pine bark broken up into bits and glued in place. The gaps are partially filled with putty to help keep them in place and to reduce the amount of pigment I'll use to finish it off. Once everything was properly dried, I sanded and scrubbed those too. I added some shims under our chap's feet to make sure he stands upright. The capstone is foam textured with putty and a light tapping with the wire brush. Click on the photo below for a hi-res version to see all that lovely texture.
And a look at the backside to see how I put it together. I still need to skin the uprights and back. The backing for the wall goes down into a trench in the foam, easier to align, get a good sit and gave me a lot more gluing surface to make sure it all stays in place. The base was rectangular but I ended up cutting the diagonal as the dead space was too distracting. An other option could have been to add some shrubs or grass, but that was going to take more time than I was willing to allocate.
So just a bit more work on the base and a few minor details to the figure and I can get this primed.
Kimmo
I dipped into the wine cork bag again for the wall, using proper cork instead of the reconstituted version as with previous projects. Whole grain cork, if you will, has a very natural stone like appearance and the imperfections just add to that. Simply cut the corks into boards of a suitable thickness, chop up into blocks and glue to a stiff backing with super glue. Once dry, trim and sand as needed and then give them a good scrub with a stiff wire rush to give them more texture, wear and cut marks. The flagstone is from pine bark broken up into bits and glued in place. The gaps are partially filled with putty to help keep them in place and to reduce the amount of pigment I'll use to finish it off. Once everything was properly dried, I sanded and scrubbed those too. I added some shims under our chap's feet to make sure he stands upright. The capstone is foam textured with putty and a light tapping with the wire brush. Click on the photo below for a hi-res version to see all that lovely texture.
And a look at the backside to see how I put it together. I still need to skin the uprights and back. The backing for the wall goes down into a trench in the foam, easier to align, get a good sit and gave me a lot more gluing surface to make sure it all stays in place. The base was rectangular but I ended up cutting the diagonal as the dead space was too distracting. An other option could have been to add some shrubs or grass, but that was going to take more time than I was willing to allocate.
So just a bit more work on the base and a few minor details to the figure and I can get this primed.
Kimmo
